“You shouldn’t let the dog get on the sofa like that,” he said dismissively. “Her nails will ruin the fabric.”
“Well, here we all live together.” Now her voice carried a hint of displeasure.
“It’s a mistake to let animals rule the home,” he continued primly. “You need to teach them who’s in charge. And you really should do something with your hair. It’s very unflattering sticking out like that.”
“Willard,” Jo said losing patience, “what my hair looks like is none of your business, and my animals know who’s in charge. What I don’t know is why you’re here.”
“You need to shut the door,” he said turning back to her. “You’re letting all that hot air in.”
Jo shut the door only because he was right; the heat was rolling into the room. “Willard, I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m really busy right now. So if you need something let me know, then you have to go.” She walked back into the room. “Now what has brought you here?”
He shook his head as he stared at her. “I just don’t understand you,” he said flatly. “I’ve asked you out a number of times but you always say no. That’s a very inconsiderate way to act in a relationship.”
Jo reached down and scooped up the cat. Midnight’s purr helped to calm her nerves, which were starting to sound alarm bells. “Willard, the only relationship you and I have together is that we’re professional colleagues. Now I think you’d better leave and we’ll just forget this conversation ever happened.”
He glanced around the room again. “You’re decorating could use some improvement, but we can probably fix that.”
“Willard, we are not fixing anything, and I want you to leave now.”
Willard just gave a tired sigh. “You make things so difficult when they don’t have to be that way.”
“Okay, I’m through being nice. I want you out of my house, now.”
“Oh, I don’t think so.”
Jo stopped her forward motion when she saw the gun he now held. “What the fuck?”
“You shouldn’t swear, Jo, it’s not very ladylike.”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she started to take a step back but he only had to gesture with the gun to make her stop.
“You just wouldn’t leave things alone. You had to dig deeper.” He shook his head with a weary gesture.
Jo stared at him in confusion. “Willard, what are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb, Jo, it’s beneath you. I know you saw my van at the Pet Store today.”
Now she gasped. “That was you?”
“I said, don’t play dumb,” he snapped. “And if you think I’m going to let our relationship interfere with my business, then you overestimate your worth to me.”
“Willard, I’m having a little trouble keeping up here. What business are you talking about? Are you connected to Sylvia’s pet store?”
His face darkened in anger. “I can’t stand it when you act stupid. I know you saw me. Doc told me you were digging into the bird trade. What do you take me for, Jo? Did you think I was going to sit back and just let you ruin something that’s taken me more than three years to cultivate?”
“You were working for Rodriguez?” She tried to keep her voice steady.
“Oh, that’s a laugh. Rodriguez was too dumb to put together an operation like this. He nearly got caught a half dozen times. I had to set up Wilson to take the heat off of him. If he hadn’t known so much, had so many contacts, I would have cut him loose a long time ago. No, Rodriguez worked for me.”
Staggered by what she was hearing, Jo could only stare in confusion. “But Brett Wilson said….”
“Wilson did me a favor when he eliminated Rodriguez. But then Wilson decided he wanted, no deserved, can you believe that, he actually told me he deserved a bigger share for eliminating Rodriguez. Just when I think I’ve got someone with some brains for a change, he tells me the kill wasn’t clean, that you, of all people, could recognize and identify him.”
“You’re the Birdman,” she said softly.
He rolled his eyes. “It took you long enough, but I knew eventually you’d figure it out and I couldn’t let that happen.”
“Kate told me that Wilson was murdered today,” she said quietly as her mind began to race.
“Murdered is such a harsh term. I prefer to think of it as eliminating a potential problem.”
“You had him killed?” she gasped, wondering if there was any end to this madness.
“You should know me well enough to know that I would never let someone like Wilson put my operation in jeopardy. I organize, I plan, and I take care of details. That’s what makes me so good at what I do. I told him I’d take care of you but he couldn’t wait. Had to do things his way and look where it got him. You’re still alive and he’s dead.”
“Willard, I just don’t understand any of this. You have a job that you’re great at.”
“Bah, I have a goddamned county job that pays me peanuts. I’m more talented and educated than Doc Tucker, but who is the assistant? It’s an insult to my intelligence. Just because he knows a few more people and socializes with the mayor, he’s picked to be the chief medical examiner and I’m supposed to be his little helper. Do the work Willard, but don’t get in the limelight. The man couldn’t find his way around an autopsy if it wasn’t for me.”
“So what are you going to do now?” Despite her resolve her voice started to tremble.
“Well as much as I hate to do this, you must be eliminated also. But you don’t need to worry; I won’t miss like Wilson did. I’m quite a good shot. You should die instantly with no pain at all.”
“That’s really thoughtful but I don’t think I like that plan,” Jo’s voice took on a hard edge. “How do you think you’re going to get away with this? Kate will never stop until she finds you.”
He tipped his head from side-to-side as if considering. “It’s going to look like a home invasion gone terribly wrong. In fact I’m probably going to be the one to find your body. And I’ll be so grief stricken.”
“I think not-- Bella, Blitz!” Jo yelled tossing Midnight at Willard.
What happened next could only be described as bedlam. Blitz streaked out from his corner by the door and sank his teeth into Willard’s calf even as Bella lunged from the sofa knocking the man completely off his feet. Struggling to avoid Bella’s snapping jaws and Midnight’s claws, his gunshot hit the ceiling. The distraction was all Jo needed. Her foot found his family jewels and as he screamed in agony from both the cat’s claws on his face and Jo’s foot in his crotch, his gun went flying across the floor.
Bella stood on his chest and growled ominously as he writhed on the floor. Jo grabbed her own gun from the bookshelf then froze as the front door swung open and Kate and Mitch both charged in with guns drawn.
“Bella, Blitz, come.” Jo called as she lowered her gun. Kneeling down she pulled each dog into a tight hug. Midnight primly walked off the writhing man, swished over to sit beside Kate, and began washing her paws. “If you’re the Calvary,” Jo said calmly, “then you’re late.”
Kate reached down and jerked Willard’s arms behind his back. “You’re under arrest for the murder of Brett Wilson, and the attempted murder of Jo Cazimer.”
“I don’t’ know what you’re talking about,” Willard struggled to stand upright despite the pain radiating from his groin. “Those dogs attacked me. I want to press charges. They need to be put down.”
Kate laughed right out loud. “Willard, the only thing that’s going to be put down is you.” She turned to Mitch, “Get that scum out of here.”
With the help of two other officers, Mitch walked the stuttering Willard from the house. “I’m going to press charges,” he continued to yell. “You haven’t heard the last of this.”
“The man is delusional,” Jo said flopping down on the sofa with a dog on each side. “If he’s going to try for an insanity plea he’s got a good shot at it. He actually thought we had some t
ype of relationship. But I give up, how did you know he was here?”
“Two things, actually,” Kate said picking Midnight up off the floor to give her a cuddle. “One, the license plate you gave me is registered to him, but more so…” she pointed to the camera sitting on the piano, “you and I were talking when he rang the bell. The camera caught his complete confession.”
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Jo said softly.
“Nope,” Kate smiled, “luckily this time you won’t.”
Epilogue
Jo finished unpacking her hurricane supplies when Kate walked into the kitchen. “I put your stuff over there,” she gestured to the far side of the table. “How did things go?”
“Willard’s charges just keep racking up. We’ve got him for arranging Brett’s murder and his threat against you. Then following your tip that Julie might have come in contact with contaminated birds, we contacted the Customs officials and they brought in a Fish and Wildlife team. They raided Sylvia’s Pet Palace and found two parrots for which she could not produce papers. Both birds have been put into quarantine as they appear to be ill, and Sylvia was arrested for receiving smuggled livestock. Then we went to Worm’s house and you wouldn’t believe what we found.” Lightning flashed and ominous thunder rumbled through the sky. “It looks like we’re going to get a preview before the hurricane even gets here,” Kate said looking out the window. “The wind’s really picking up out there. I want to get my suitcases in the car before the sky opens.”
“Hey, wait a minute. I’ll help you with the cases but first tell me the rest of the story. What happened at Worm’s house? Were you able to get a search warrant?”
“When we got there and were waiting for the warrant to come through, Mitch walks around back and finds a heavy duty extension cord running from a shed in the back yard to the house. So he calls a buddy of his who just happens to be a building inspector. A building inspector doesn’t need a search warrant to open a shed when the building code violation is evident. And low and behold it’s full of birds. There were more than two dozen.”
“All parrots?”
“No, some were identified as Asian song birds. It was amazing. The Custom official estimated that there was over a hundred thousand dollars worth of live merchandise in that shed.”
“So what’s going to happen to Willard the Worm now?”
“Well, for the smuggling alone he could face up to 20 years in prison, but when you add the charges of murder and attempted murder, I’d say it will be a long time if not never before he gets out.”
“And what about Sylvia’s store and all the animals there?”
“That I couldn’t tell you,” Kate said putting her supplies into a cloth grocery sack. “All I know is, it’s not our problem.”
“Poor Julie is going to be out of a job,” Jo said. “Did you question her?”
“Yes, I had to follow up on everyone who worked in the store. She admitted that Sylvia had told her not to go in the room, said it contained her private things. But curiosity got the better of her and she went in one afternoon when Sylvia wasn’t there. She felt sorry for the parrots and gave them fresh water. She didn’t know they were sick or that Sylvia didn’t have papers for them. She thought they were kept separate because they were so expensive.”
“That poor kid was really sick. Was she doing any better when you saw her?”
“Yeah, her mom got her to the doctor’s right after you brought her home. Twenty-four hours on antibiotics made a real difference. She’s going to be fine.”
Lightning flashed again and the lights flickered. “I’ve got to get home before this gets worse,” Kate said picking up her bag. “Are you going to be all right with the dogs during the storm?”
“Yeah, we’ll be fine. I’ve checked the generator so if the electricity does go out, I’m covered.”
They walked into the living room and Kate scooped up Midnight and reached for her travel case. Lightning flashed and a crack of thunder was so loud that the entire house shook. Kate dropped Midnight as the cat screamed and darted from the room with Bella and Blitz close on her heels. Before she could catch her breath, her phone rang.
Trying to still her beating heart, Jo walked to the front window and looked out. She turned back to Kate with a look of disbelief on her face. “Ah Kate, we have a little problem.”
Kate looked up from her phone. “I’ll say.”
“No, I don’t think you understand. That last flash of lightning that shook the house…it hit the palm tree in the front yard.”
Kate rushed over to the window to look out. The huge palm, that once stood in sentry on the corner of the property, was now uprooted and lying across the driveway.
“The good news is that it doesn’t look like it hit your car,” Jo said pulling open the front door to go and check, then immediately pushing it shut as wind and rain forced their way in.
“That’s not our only problem,” Kate said quietly. “That was Doc Tucker on the phone. The art teacher from the high school is dead. When she didn’t show up for work yesterday, one of the teachers went to her apartment and found her.”
“Damn, that’s horrible. Had she been sick?”
Kate shook her head slowly, “She was poisoned,” Kate sank down on the sofa. “She was poisoned with ricin, the same poison that was used to kill Diana Harkins,” Kate took a breath. “Do you realize what this means?” At Jo’s silence she continued. “It means we have a serial killer.”
To be continued…
Watch for the second book in the Florida Heat Series coming soon.
Until then…
The hurricane had passed leaving in its wake death and destruction. Roofs were gone and thousands were still without power. But for Probation Officer Jo Cazimer and Detective Kate Snow it wasn’t the hurricane they thought about as they stood in the light rain and watched the coffin being lowered into the ground. Someone was killing teachers, and it wasn’t Mother Nature.
Go to https://www.rainykirkland.com to learn when the next book in the Florida Heat series will be released.
Booklist
Colonial Historicals
Bewitching Kisses
Silver Flames
Falcon’s Curse
Mystery/Suspense
Florida Heat
Florida Heat Page 30